Rating: **
Review Date: 8/4/01
Cast: Jordan Chan, Angela Tong
Pretty awful in every sense of the word. I would have given this piece of Hong Kong schlock a one-star rating, except that the film takes a radical turn for the better in the final thirty minutes. Woody (loud-mouthed Jordan Chan) and Bee are a couple of young punks who work at a disreputable video store in the mall. They spend their days goofing off, getting in trouble, flirting with girls, and acting tough - until zombies start showing up, that is. Apparently, the US has developed a new biochemical that creates zombies (undoubtedly for military purposes), and it accidentally gets unleashed in Hong Kong. Woody and Bee, as well as a handful of others, get trapped in the mall one evening, which is teeming with zombies. Fortunately, they've been playing "The House Of The Dead" in their spare time and quickly figure out how to deal with the undead fiends (I'm not kidding). The entire first hour plays out as a monumentally bad sit-com and is downright dreadful to sit through. I nearly turned it off at least a dozen times, but I somehow managed to persevere. Then suddenly towards the end of the film, it shifts gears and starts taking itself seriously, playing out like a typical horror film as the remaining heroes show their true colors and make a grand stand for survival. The burdens of social status and the imposed confinement of society fall away, with the resulting anarchy bringing out the (potential) hero in everyone. Jordan Chan the cowardly loud-mouthed braggard is detestable, but Jordan Chan the stoic kick-ass zombie slayer is truly admirable. Also in the admirable category is Rolls (Angela Tong), the snobby bitch who works in the beauty parlor. She is totally HOT, and the camera is keenly aware of that fact. Unless you have a high threshold for abusive stupidity, do yourself a favor and just skip to the end.